Beyonce's 'B'Day' Closes Out Year On 2006's Top 10 Best-Selling Albums Chart

Beyonce's second solo album, B'Day, closed out 2006 as one of the year's most successful albums. With release-to- date (as of December 31, 2006) SoundScanned sales of 2,010,311, B'Day came in at #7 on Billboard's U.S. Top 10 Best-Selling Albums chart. Certified RIAA double platinum in the U.S., B'Day has sold more than 3.5 million copies around the world.

Released in the US on September 4, 2006 (and around the world on September 5 to coincide with the artist's 25th birthday), Beyonce's B'Day entered the Billboard Top 200 at #1, with first week's sales of more than 541,000 pieces, achieving 2006's highest first week's sales of any female recording act, group or solo. B'Day had the fifth highest chart debut of the year of any artist, male of female. (The pop superstar's first solo album, 2003's Grammy-winning Dangerously In Love, also debuted in the #1 slot, with first week's sales of 316,846.)

B'Day peaked at #1 on Billboard's Top 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and U.S. Internet album charts and remains a constant on the upper reaches of the Top 200 (it's currently #12).

"Deja Vu" (featuring Jay-Z), the first single from B'Day, reached #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and #1 on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart while its follow-up, "Ring The Alarm," hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and #3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The album's current single, "Irreplaceable," is currently #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart (five weeks in a row) and #1 on the R&B Singles chart (seven weeks in a row).

B'Day has been nominated for five Grammy Awards including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (for "Ring The Alarm"), Best R&B Song (for "Deja Vu"), Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (for "Deja Vu"), and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical (for "Deja Vu" - Freemasons Club Mix - No Rap).

Beyonce may currently be seen starring with Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy in the hit Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures film "Dreamgirls," which earned a whopping $8.7 million on Christmas Day -- the best single day ever for a musical -- and racked up $41.349 million in its first 8 days of wide release. "Dreamgirls" has been honored with numerous award nominations and critical accolades including three Screen Actors Guild nominations, a Producers Guild "Best Picture" nomination, seven Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations and including five Golden Globe nominations, three Screen Actors Guild nominations, a Producers Guild "Best Picture" nomination and five Golden Globes nominations including Best Musical or Comedy Picture.

Beyonce Knowles has been nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Actress, Comedy or Musical category while the first single from the film soundtrack, "Listen," co-written by Beyonce with "Dreamgirls" composer Henry Krieger, Anne Preven and Scott Cutler, has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Song.

DREAMGIRLS - Music From the Motion Picture is currently the #1 Top Soundtrack on the Billboard charts and #3 on the Billboard Top 200. (A deluxe collector's edition of the album is the nation's #5 Top Soundtrack and #60 on the Top 200.)

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SOURCE: Music World Music/Columbia Records

CONTACT: Yvette Noel-Schure, Columbia Records, Media, New York,
+1-212-833-4483, Yvette.Noel-Schure@sonybmg.com

Web site: http://www.columbiarecords.com/